So the little buggers are still around. I have been meticulously spraying the plants with the Bayer Advanced Natria Insect, Disease & Mite Control. It gets rid of the bugs on contact and for a good 5 days afterwards, but they would surely find their way back. I realized they must be hiding in the media itself. I ordered online some Bayer 3-in-1 Insect Disease and Mite Control Concentrate. This is a systemic poison with the main active ingredient being Imidacloprid (sold under the brand name of Merit), which has a very high success rate. This insecticide is successful not only because of its chemical composition, but also due to the form in which it is administered. It is fed to the plant during watering and in a few weeks, it makes the plant itself toxic so when the pests feed on the plant, they ingest the poison and die. If this is what it takes to keep my orchids mealybug free, then so be it!
In the meantime, I took out each plant out of its pot and got rid of all of the media in the pots. I then carefully washed all the roots and sprayed each plant and roots with Bayer Advanced Natria Insect, Disease & Mite Control while out of the pot and left it to soak a good 10-15 minutes. I then washed the pots thoroughly and let them sit in diluted bleach while the plants were being treated with the insecticide. Once I was ready to repot, I prepared fresh new media, sprayed the insides of each ceramic and plastic pot with insecticide just in case any bugs were missed the first time and carefully repotted each orchid. I also took the opportunity to sterilize the humidity trays and wipe the wooden coffee table well, even under its lip. I didn't want to take any more chances with these resourceful and very tenacious little pests.
As I was treating the plants, I noticed Marilyn has grown a new root and leaf. Audrey 2's roots are in much better shape and I also gave her a slight trim of a few dead roots. Rocky is still hanging in there and appears to be doing much better. The problem with Rocky is that he has so many nooks and crannies for the bugs to hide so he got an extra dose and time of pesticide goodness. Vino had some great new growth, but lost 2 other leaves to the mealybugs . I took extra time with him to ensure I got all the bugs. Kalista was the worse off. The bugs had established themselves in her delicate leaves and had infiltrated the media as well. It was not pretty at all!
And lastly, Snow White's roots, unfortunately, had not only succumbed to the bugs, but also had dozens of black spots all over her roots. Some type of fungus had attacked the weakened Phalaenopsis. Since I didn't want the unidentified fungus to spread to my other plants, I painfully decided to toss it before it was too late.
I would say that the mealybugs won the last 2 rounds, but I came back with a killer upper cut and stunned them this time. Let's see what happens in the next round?
In the meantime, I took out each plant out of its pot and got rid of all of the media in the pots. I then carefully washed all the roots and sprayed each plant and roots with Bayer Advanced Natria Insect, Disease & Mite Control while out of the pot and left it to soak a good 10-15 minutes. I then washed the pots thoroughly and let them sit in diluted bleach while the plants were being treated with the insecticide. Once I was ready to repot, I prepared fresh new media, sprayed the insides of each ceramic and plastic pot with insecticide just in case any bugs were missed the first time and carefully repotted each orchid. I also took the opportunity to sterilize the humidity trays and wipe the wooden coffee table well, even under its lip. I didn't want to take any more chances with these resourceful and very tenacious little pests.
As I was treating the plants, I noticed Marilyn has grown a new root and leaf. Audrey 2's roots are in much better shape and I also gave her a slight trim of a few dead roots. Rocky is still hanging in there and appears to be doing much better. The problem with Rocky is that he has so many nooks and crannies for the bugs to hide so he got an extra dose and time of pesticide goodness. Vino had some great new growth, but lost 2 other leaves to the mealybugs . I took extra time with him to ensure I got all the bugs. Kalista was the worse off. The bugs had established themselves in her delicate leaves and had infiltrated the media as well. It was not pretty at all!
And lastly, Snow White's roots, unfortunately, had not only succumbed to the bugs, but also had dozens of black spots all over her roots. Some type of fungus had attacked the weakened Phalaenopsis. Since I didn't want the unidentified fungus to spread to my other plants, I painfully decided to toss it before it was too late.
I would say that the mealybugs won the last 2 rounds, but I came back with a killer upper cut and stunned them this time. Let's see what happens in the next round?
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